TRIBUTE 



HON. THOS. L. JONES, 

§0 tlje Mtmox^ 



C^p 



HON. EDWARD Y. PARSONS, 

IN THE 

HOUSE OF REPKESENTATIVES, 
August I, 1876. 



"Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede 
Pauperum labernas, regumque turres." 

"Heri \'idi fragilem frangi 
Hodie vidi mortalem mori." 



WASHING TOIS. 

1876. 



'<fi 



REMAKKS 

OF 

HON. THOMAS L. JONES 



Mr. JONES, of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, 

Pallida mors ae<iuo piilsat jn-de pauix'ium taberuas 
Regnmqiie turrcs. 

Death is so common in the land that we can but seldom if ever truly 
apply the lesson he would teach or give a passinj; tiiouyht how soon 
he may knock at our own door. He may in an instant blight the 
beauteous rosebud, wither the fairest llower of the garden, shiver the 
giant oak of the forest, tear away the veneiable forms of our house- 
holds, snatch from ourembrace the tender idolsof our hearts, or strike 
down at our very side splendid youug manhood, the highest image of 
God himself, and although we feel the shock, bow our heads, ami look 
with awe and wonder, yet soiui again, O! how soon, does the world 
with its duties, its pleasures, and its cares absorb and leail us on in 
the same accustouu-d way! Hut this iiu'vitable and dread visitor 
heeds not our ways nor respects our condition ; in his ijuiver he has 
an arrow for all: he strikes the low and the liigh. the bad and the 
good, the ])oor and the rich: he calls at every habitation, from the 
lowly hovel in itsjjoverty to the umjestic Capitol in its grandeur, ami 
thus with imjiartial step and unerring aim marches on forever. In the 
hour of our grief and in tiie weakness of our nature, unmindful of 
the di\ iue ec(momy. which resjiects m-ither person nor condition, we 
cry out. <)I wliy, why could not tiie great God. the (iivcr of life and 
deafli. Iiave spared my loved one as a merciful exception ? 

Man is ever taught the truth, but heeds it not, that life is death, 
creation is dissolution, and none can tell how soon the latter may fol- 
low the former. How little d(» we renu-mbei- that as we begin to live 
we begin ti; die. In the structure and economy of life,yi>very blow 
we strike, every thought we think, is .iccompanied by the death ami 
disintegration of a certain aiiumnt of muscular and nervous tissue 
as its necessary conditicm, and thus every action of our cori>oreal life 
from its lieginning to its close takes place at tlie expens*- of the vi- 
tality of a certain anmuut of organized matter; and yet from the 
beginning of tlic life of uuui to this day of how little importance to 
his fellows is his death. 

Epictetus, the I'lirygian philosopher, went forth one day and saw 
a woman weeping for her iiitclier of earth that wa-s broken, and he 
went forth the next day and saw a woman weeping for her sou tha% 
was dead, and when he returned to his house he exclaimed, 

Heri vidi frairiU-iii fniniii, hodie vidi iiinrtalnii uiori. 

Yesterday a vase was broken, to-day a man dies, and one may be 
of as little couse(|uence as the other. The philosopher of Uz in hi» 
affliction exclaimed : 



Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trovxble. He cometh 
forth like a flower, and is cut down : he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. 

Again it is said : 
Man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets. 

Mr. Speaker, has one from our midst been suddenly removed ? Does 
death make no impression here, although his shaft has smitten us like 
the flash of the lightning ? Is thjj pale monster to be regarded with 
no more terror than one going to sleep, the vanishing of a cloud, the 
decay of a flower, the rolling up of a scroll, the folding of a tent, or 
the gentle approach of night ? 

Sir, but a few days ago the stalwart and splendid form of Kentucky's 
young statesman walked and sat in this Hall almost the very perfection 
of manly vigor, grace, and elegance. Like Absalom, tlie praise of 
Israel, "from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there 
was no blemish in him." Methinks I see him now, sir, as was his wont to 
approach us with that stately mein, open hand, rich voice, and frank 
cordiality which seemed to belong to him alone, which indeed digni- 
fied his race, and presented in himself a brilliant type of the young 
manhood, courage, and gallantry of the noble State he represented. 
His morning salutation was to me, sir, a pleasure for the day. Others 
may not, but I do miss him. 

How sudden, Mr. Speaker, was his taking oft"! When the news 
■came and rang through this House we could not have been more ap- 
palled if a bolt from heaven at noon-day with the sun in his glory 
had rent asunder the dome of the Capitol. When but an hour after 
I entered his chamber and laid my hand upon that majestic brow, 
pulseless and cold as marble, how truly was it manifest "' In the 
midst of life we are in death." 

Mr. Speaker, what a transition ! Think of it. At twelve o'clock, 
high noon, this man stood in noble stature and perfect health with 
every apparent promise of length of days and increasing honors, and 
at twelve o'clock at night he was dead, his body embalmed and on 
its way with congressional escort to his home for burial. Thus was 
our young brother stricken down aud spirited away. Death indeed 
found in him "a shining mark." 

How vain and transitory is life in its highest aspect ; how futile man's 
ambition ; how appai-eutly worthless all his labors ; how his brigiitest 
hopes are suddenly blasted! Here was high intellectual endowment, 
cultivated in the best schools of learning, chastened and accomplished 
bj^ classical lore from the great old masters, whom he loved to repeat 
and praise. Here was solid learning in jurisprudence aud eminence 
already in professional reputation and honors. Here was political 
ability of rare merit, just developing into large and comprehensive 
statesmaiishi]). Here was pnre character, admired and loved from 
birth to death. Here, too, if indeed it become eulogy, was a com- 
bination of personal lineaments with a grand outline that attracted 
the gaze of every beholder ; a face as beautiful as the Apollo and a 
form that Phidias or Praxiteles would have chosen tor a uK^del. No 
prouder step ever graced the Avenue, no manlier person ever sat in 
the Capitol. All tliis vanished and gone, as it were, like the blaze of 
.a meteor. Thus goes the glory of the world. 

O man ! 

Boast not thyself of toniorrow ; for tliou knowest not what a day may bring 
iorth. 

Mr. Speaker, wlicu our friends die we are ajit to inquire or couject- 
lure what were their last tliouglits or expressions or how they received 



the final message. In what manner (inr yonn;^ brotlnir, so full of 
happiness and hopo, woh'onu'd the smhltMi and un<'X])cctc(l niossenj^er 
we know not. Whether he had time to east a look Indiind or a look 
heyond, we know not. It is said, sir, ami it is a happy thought, that 
when man is about to be j^athered to his people or jjo to his fathers, 
visions of bright seenes and glorious eomi)anies gleam l)efore his ex- 
piring gaze. Such haytpy close would Inive been in keeping with the 
life of our friend; and let us think that if in tliat linal moment he 
could have reached our ears, he would have called to us : 

Saw yo not now a ble.sswl troop 

Invite me to a hanijuct, whose l)ri>^lit faces 

Cast thousand beams upon me like the sun ? 

May we not txnst that our loved companion so departed, was so re- 
ceived, and is now seated in that glorious assembly in the realms of 
bliss ! 

Mr. Speaker, death itself is not without its consolations. Ec- 
clesia.stes taught that "a good. name is better than precious ointnuMit, 
and the day of death than the day of one's birth." Loril Bacon said : 
"Death hath this also, that it openeth the gate to good fame and ex- 
tinguisheth envy." If a man die, shall he not live again ? Death is 
but the end of care, and opens the door to that better and true life 
where He presides who, greater than all, has pronounced the glorious 
promise to man, "I am the resurrection and the life." 

But, Mr. Speaker, my poor words are -s^ain. I bring no tltting eu- 
logy ; I claim no philosophy of life and death. I teach no moral from 
this sad bereavement. Every heart must draw its own lesson, and 
that is better felt than expressed. I only know that our valiant 
young brother lias gone from these Halls forever. Kentucky's bud- 
ding promise, her blushing pi'ide under national honors has been re- 
turned to her in a casket for the grave. Her metropolis — the city of 
his home — has honored him with a funeral pageant lieciuninga king. 
and loving hands have laid him away in the la)) of his mother eartli. 

Mr. Speaker, Kentucky will cherish her distinguislie<l d<'ad, young 
and old, and ever honor those who honor her. Though blessed in 
climate and soil, prolific and pre-eminent in the productions of earth 
and animal, high advanced in the improvements and embellislmients 
of civilized life, proud of all she possesses, yet, like the Roman moth- 
er, "her jewels are her sons." In coming tinu^, when she shall build 
a pantheon to her great, the marble image of this younger sou nniy 
perhaps be seen and admired like that of the beautiful young Augus- 
tus in the Vatican. Peace, peace, to his ashes! consolation to his 
friends and loved ones! gentle flowers for his tomb, and may sweet 
memories ever linger around the name of Edwaiu) Yol'XG P.\i:sons ! 

O beate Sesti, 

Tita; summa brevis spem nos vetat iuchoare longain. 



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